David Larry Nelson, Cross-Appellee v. John E. Nagle, Warden, Cross-Appellant

In this capital case, we affirm the district court’s decision granting appellant’s petition for writ of habeas corpus requiring new penalty phase proceedings because the prosecutor’s reading of a portion of the Eberhart case (Eberhart v. State, 47 Ga. 598 (1873)) rendered the penalty phase of appellant’s trial fundamentally unfair.

FACTS

On August 28, 1974, David Larry Nelson, the appellant, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree for the murder of Oliver King. The Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, sentenced Nelson to twelve years imprisonment.

In 1977, after serving six years of…